Past tense pronunciation
Past tense pronunciation refers to the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past or past participle form - that is, verb forms which end in "ed". There are three possible sounds which correspond to the written "ed": /d/, /t/ and /ɪd/. Voiced and unvoiced Before we begin we must consider “voiced” and “unvoiced” sounds. Voiced pronunciation of "-ed" For all verbs that end with voiced sounds and the “ed” is pronounced /d/ (except for the voiced consonant /d/). So now say the same words and just add the /d/ sound: opened, called, seemed and agreed. Voiceless pronunciation of "-ed" For all verbs that end with unvoiced consonants and the “ed” is pronounced /t/ (except for the voiceless consonant /t/). These consonants are /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/ and /θ/. Say the following: pushed, helped, liked and reduced. A /t/ sound is added at the end of these verbs. Regular verbs ending with /t/ and /d/ What about words ending in “t” and “d”? When a verb already ends with the letter “t” or “d”, it is impossible to add another “d” or “t”. Try it. Can you say “want t” or “include d”? Consequently when a word ends with either a “d” or a “t” we have to pronounce the full “ed” sound as a separate syllable: /-dɪd/ or /-tɪd/. This is also true of regular verbs ending in "te" or "de" - don't forget that the final "e" of most words in English is not pronounced. Say – wan'ted', lif'ted', nee'ded', compu'ted', estima'ted', and investiga'ted'. The good news is that the difference between the “t” and “d” sound is not that great. The important thing is to differentiate between the “t” “d” pair on the one hand, and the set of verbs ending “ed”. Practice I opened the door, invited her in and asked her what she wanted. She walked in as if she owned the place and, when she replied, she indicated that she wanted to talk about buying my island. I was very surprised and stated that my island was not for sale and that I had not planned to sell it. She persisted and insisted that I had responded without thinking and offered me 2,000,000 pounds. I became annoyed and ordered her out. I demanded that she depart my island and I informed her that she wasn’t expected back. Examples Practice experimenting with these words: Examples of regular verbs with the /t/ sound */ft/: golfed, proofed, sniffed, stuffed */kt/: cooked, hooked, lacked, licked, liked, looked, networked, picked, talked, walked, worked */pt/: developed, helped, hopped, hoped, stopped */st/: addressed, forced, increased, passed, produced, reduced */ʃt/: brushed, crashed, distinguished, extinguished, finished, pushed, wished */tʃt/: reached, touched, watched The past tense of "ask" is pronounced either /æskt, ɑːskt / or /æst, , ɑːst /. The past tense of "jump" is pronounced either /dʒʌmpt/ or /dʒʌmt/. Examples of regular verbs with the /d/ sound *vowel+/d/: agreed, allowed, applied, argued, denied, renewed, played, showed, stayed, tried */dʒd/: changed, charged, managed */gd/: cataloged, catalogued, dragged, drugged */ld/: called, pulled, traveled, travelled */nd/: cleaned, earned, explained, gained, opened, owned, phoned, turned, warned */ŋd/: belonged */rd/ (in non-rhotic accents these verb end in a vowel sound + /d/): appeared, cared, offered, ordered, shared */vd/: approved, believed, improved, lived, moved, received, resolved */zd/: organised, organized Examples of regular verbs with the /ɪd/ sound *Finishing in "t" or "te": act, activate, adapt, compete, create, defeat, estimate, exist, infect, invite, lift, list, pollute, promote, reject, repeat, respect, result, shift, suggest, support, start, test, unite, want *Finishing in "d" or "de": add, blend, decide, defend, demand, divide, end, extend, include, invade, need, pretend, provide, succeed Homophones aloud - allowed; band - banned; board - bored; bold - bowled; build - billed; duct - ducked; find - fined; guest - guessed; least - leased; mind - mined; mist - missed; ode - owed; pact - packed; past - passed; paste - paced; road - rowed; side - sighed; sword - soared; tide - tied; toad - towed; tract - tracked; wade - weighed; world - whirled; Not past tenses The following words are not past tenses (or not always are past tenses) and therefore the pronunciation rules for past tense do not necessarily apply. *aged /ˈeɪdʒɪd/ adj. very old; noun very old people (adj. of the age of and the past tense of the verb age are pronounced /eɪdʒd/) *beloved /bɪˈlʌvɪd/ (also /bɪˈlʌvd/) *blessed /ˈblesɪd/ adj. holy (past tense of bless is /blest/) *crooked /ˈkrʊkɪd/ *learned /ˈlɜːrnɪd/ (past tense of learn is /lɜːrnd/, also learnt /lɜːrnt/) *legged /ˈleɡɪd/ (as in long-legged) *naked /ˈneɪkɪd/ *rugged /ˈrʌɡɪd/ *sacred /ˈseɪkrɪd/ *wicked /ˈwɪkɪd/ *wretched /ˈretʃɪd/ Adverbs These adverbs look like a past tense and the suffix ''-ly''; however their pronunciation ends in /-ɪdliː/.Jack Windsor Lewis, English Spellings vis a vis Phonemes *allegedly /əˈledʒɪdliː/ *fixedly /ˈfɪksɪdliː/ *markedly /ˈmɑːrkɪdliː/ *supposedly /səˈpəʊzɪdliː/ If the verb doesn't end in a stressed vowel, the past tense pronunciation is used: *embarrassedly /ɪmˈbærəstliː/ *determinedly /dɪˈtɜːrmɪndliː/ Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1 Spanish Many Spanish speakers pronounce the "-ed" ending as a separate syllable, regardless of the ending sound of the verb. Special effort must be made so that the students don't pronounce |Correct pronunciation is /ɑːskt/ or /ɑːst/}}, |Correct pronunciation is /pʊʃt/}}, |Correct pronunciation is /ɪkˈspleɪnd/}} or |Correct pronunciation is /rəʊd/}} (for asked, pushed, explained and rowed). See also *Past tense spelling *Possible pronunciation difficulties *Decoding exercises: "ie" References External links *Michael Swan at BBC Learning English Category:Decoding written words Category:Phonetics Category:Pronunciation